The Rural Municipality of Morris has presented a $6.2 million operating budget for 2019.

The financial plan includes a half percent increase in the municipal tax levy which will raise just over $34,200.

A number of large capital projects were completed last year, which is the main reason why the municipality is spending about a million dollars less this year compared to 2018.

"We have two debentures that are coming online this year," said Reeve Ralph Groening. "We have the fire hall in Rosenort and we also did a road improvement and all that work is done, but we are now paying for those projects. That will impact the municipal tax bill as well."

Meanwhile, town council has approved spending an extra $12,000 for the municipality's fire operations and has added another $50,000 into its fire services reserve fund to help cover the purchase of new FleetNet radios for its three fire departments at Rosenort, Lowe Farm and Sperling.

Also, about $25,000 has been earmarked for a sidewalk project for the community of Lowe Farm.

Reeve Ralph Groening feels council took a reasonable approach to this year's budget, and the half-percent tax increase reflects that when taking into consideration that the cost of living is about 2.6 percent.

"There is a general mood on our council ... to manage as carefully as possible, and we chose to do better than the cost of living and have been able to achieve that through some careful management of how we spend."